On February 26, 2020, the Prime Minister held the 14th meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, a discussion was held on the response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Now is truly the critical moment to contain the outbreak swiftly. Based on this recognition, the Government yesterday decided basic policies for our countermeasures (Basic Policies for Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus). Among these policies, the Government has asked local communities and companies to review the necessity to hold events and other gatherings from the perspective of the prevention of outbreak, taking into consideration the status of outbreak and circumstances of respective venues; this is not meant as a uniform request to refrain from holding such occasions nationwide at this stage. In addition, given that the next one-to-two weeks will be of critical importance for preventing further outbreaks, and in view of the risk of large-scale infections associated with national-level major events such as sports and culture events that draw large number of people, we have decided to request organizers to take such responses as cancellation, postponement or downsizing. In order to fully prepare to prevent further infections, the Government will continue to exert every possible effort, while paying due attention to trends in the outbreaks.

Furthermore, on border controls, we will continue to implement current measures such as on-going restrictions over entry and maintain the current-level of travel advisories for Japanese nationals, with the view to prevent sudden inflows of infected persons into Japan. Yesterday, given the sudden rise in the number of persons infected with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Government has raised its Travel Advice and Warning on Infectious Diseases to Level 2 for Daegu City and Cheongdo County in North Gyeongsang Province in the ROK, and is advising all Japanese nationals to avoid non-essential travel to those destinations. The Government of the ROK itself has designated these two areas as special management zones and raised the virus alert to the highest level. In light of local situations, for the time being, we will deny entry of foreign nationals who have any history of staying in Daegu City and Cheongdo County in North Gyeongsang Province in the ROK during 14 days prior to arrival in Japan, unless there is any specific need, under the stipulations of the Immigration Control Act. We will complete the necessary procedures accordingly and make this effective as of midnight, February 27.

I ask all Ministers to continue to further advance our efforts to counter novel coronavirus (COVID-19) based on the Basic Policies, with the national government, the local governments, medical professionals, business operators, and the public all working together.”